There are rumors circulating about the future of the Holocaust Center, especially as we have recently announced our intention to move back to our previous location in Oakland. We want to take a moment to clear up the biggest one — we are not closing our doors.

Our move from the Squirrel Hill Jewish Community Center to Oakland is a temporary one. Over the course of the next year, we will be planning our future facility needs. In the meantime, this move will allow us to put more resources (time, energy and money) into more — and more compelling — programming that will benefit the Jewish community and bring the lessons of the Holocaust to a larger and more diverse audience.

We will still maintain a presence in Squirrel Hill, where we will continue to run programs, both for the survivors and the community. Some of this programming is part of our annual calendar, and some will be brand new.

We are expanding our staff, and focusing on how best to develop 21st-century educational programming that can use the events of the Jewish Holocaust experience as a means to teach tolerance to students across our region. Additionally, we will continue to engage the community around programming and conversations regarding contemporary relevance of the Holocaust and its lessons, as we work to memorialize and commemorate the legacy of those whose lives were impacted by the events of the Holocaust.

Over the next several months you will start to see major program announcements. Until then, if you have questions or concerns, please direct them to the staff and leadership of the Holocaust Center.

David Sufrin and

Joy Braunstein

Pittsburgh

(The authors are the chair and director, respectively, of the Holocaust Center of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.)